HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL: East Bridgewater edges Middleboro in a classic

Tuesday

Junior right-handers Liam LeVangie and Jake Stiner match up in a classic pitchers’ duel that ends with the Vikings scoring a run in the sixth to come away with a 1-0 South Shore League win.

MIDDLEBORO – Jack Dempsey helped throw the knockout punch.

The senior right fielder, who bears the name of the legendary heavyweight boxing champion, broke up Jake Stiner’s no-hit bit in the sixth inning to trigger the rally that led to the game's only run as East Bridgewater topped Middleboro, 1-0, in a classic South Shore League high school baseball matchup at the Peirce Playground on Tuesday afternoon.

“We always expect a great game over here,” East Bridgewater head coach Jeff Ghiloni said following his team’s season-opening win. “Middleboro’s a great program. They always have been. Their bats are always ready. Their pitchers are always throwing strikes. So we knew it was going to be a battle.”

A battle it was, Stiner and EB ace Liam LeVangie – a pair of junior right-handers – locking up in a scoreless pitchers’ duel until Dempsey and the Fabroski family (brothers Nick and John) all singled in the top half of the sixth.

“That,” said Middleboro coach Bill Lawrence, “was a great ballgame. We had our chances. The difference was, they got that hit.”

“That hit” being the two-out, sixth-inning single up the middle by senior John Fabroski that plated Dempsey, who'd led off the inning with a single to left-center field. Junior Nick Fabroski followed with a single deep into the shortstop hole. Two outs later, John Fabroski delivered, scoring Dempsey from second base.

“Both pitchers threw the ball real well and kept the ball down,” said Ghiloni. “We knew it was going to take that one inning. We kind of worked our way into a run there. A couple of missed signs worked in our favor. We’ll take it.

“Timely hitting,” Ghiloni continued. “It’s the same ol’, same ol’ with that in baseball. The first couple of innings we were a little slow with our timing (Stiner struck out the side in the first inning and had five strikeouts through three), then we started putting the ball in play. I told the guys, ‘Keep putting the ball in play and we’ll see what happens.’ It started off with Dempsey getting a hit and then it kind of snowballed. That kind of happens with us.”

For the Sachems, it was a case of one and done – the first run they’ve allowed in three games this year resulting in their first loss as they stranded eight base runners in the game, including two each in the first, third and fifth innings.

The Sachems' biggest opportunity came in the last of the fifth when senior Colin O’Brien drew a leadoff walk, took second on a sacrifice bunt by classmate Evan Gwozdz and took third when Shawn McCarthy (two of Middleboro’s four hits in the game), another senior, singled into the shortstop hole. When McCarthy stole second, the Sachems had two runners in scoring position with their three-four hitters at the plate, but LeVangie recorded two of the 13 strikeouts he posted over six innings to escape.

“He wants to shut it down every time he’s out there,” Ghiloni said of LeVangie, who relied heavily on his fastball throughout the game. “That’s just the competitor he is. He’s a great kid who works hard at it. If he misses a spot, he’s hard on himself. He prides himself on keeping the ball down and throwing strikes for sure.”

Senior lefthander Sam Barrett came on in the seventh to nail down the save, allowing a two-out single to Gwozdz before recording his second strikeout of the inning and EB’s 15th of the game to end it.

Like LeVangie, Stiner went six innings, striking out seven during his stint before handing the ball over to junior Nick Ramos. who made quick work of the Vikings in the top half of the seventh, striking out two.

“LeVangie, we expect a great game out of him, but right over here,” said Lawrence, nodding his head toward Stiner. “He was outstanding.”

Problem was, LeVangie was unyielding.

“We knew coming in here we were going to have to play our best baseball to beat him,” Lawrence said.

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